West Scranton's Joe DeAntona is Hall of Famer

For him, it demanded sacrifice of body and soul. It demanded toughness, and Joe DeAntona loved toughness. He played and coached football with a burning passion, a rugged style and an unmatched determination that fed his unwillingness to accept defeat.

His unequaled pride in the sport and West Scranton High School is what drove him to become one of the best and most respected coaches in the state.

On Saturday, the excitable Invader who shaped a generation of tough ‘West Siders’ took his place among the legends when he was inducted into the Pennsylvania Scholastic Football Coaches’ Association Hall of Fame at a ceremony in Harrisburg.

“I am humbled,” a choked up DeAntona said following the event. “I just did what I did and never expected anything like this. To me, Pennsylvania football is the best football in the country and to be placed among these great coaches really is an emotional thing for me.”

It isn’t always easy following a legend.

For DeAntona his task was made even more challenging because that legend was also his mentor. Sam Donato, also a Hall of Fame coach, shaped the West Scranton players’ reputation of being unyielding brutes.

As a player, DeAntona was a throwback. He had his personality influenced by Donato’s intensity, playing in the trenches, unafraid to get dirty while ignoring pain.

His tenacity earned him all-state honors and he went on to play at the University of Iowa for coach Jerry Burns. Devoted to football, he began coaching at Line Mountain High School before returning to his beloved hometown and school in 1972.

He spent the next 25 years guiding the Invaders with a commanding style. West Scranton won 143 games during the quarter-century and had seven playoff appearances. His teams won three Eastern Conference titles and a Big 11 championship in 1974.

He treasures his 17 wins in the annual Battle for the Bell, the symbol of supremacy in the city.

“We were West Side Invaders through and through and we had a calling card, because we played tough football,” DeAntona said. “That’s what we coached, that’s what we taught and I had great kids who bought in to that pride.

“I also had great coaches who were loyal to those beliefs and that meant a lot to me.”

His career is defined by the force and physicality of his Invaders. And there were a lot of great ones who wore the blue and white.

More than 30 players earned athletic scholarships to play football at either Football Bowl Championship or Football Championship Subdivision schools.

“As a coach, he made us at West Scranton tough, confident players,” said Bill Ferrario, who went on to be an All-Big Ten guard at the University of Wisconsin where he didn’t miss a game and played with the Green Bay Packers. “He instilled in us that work ethic. I would not have gotten the college education that I did or have the life I have now if it weren’t for coach DeAntona.

“He was one of my first coaches and he brought out the toughness in me where there were instances in college where guys were bigger or faster than me, but they were my backups. At West Scranton, we had to work for every water break and every inch we got. The game is changing and we will be seeing a different football in our future, but I loved that tough, aggressive play that coach DeAntona taught us and brought us success.”

Three of his most prized pupils, Fred DeRiggi, Marc Spindler, who was USA Today’s High School Defensive Player of the Year in 1986, and Ferrario went on to play in the National Football League.

“‘Coach D’, through his tough, hard-nosed style of football and discipline was helping to shape young men like myself for our future,” said Spindler, who played defensive line at the University of Pittsburgh and with the Detroit Lions and New York Jets.

“Some of us got it and some didn’t. I’m so glad that I got it.”

All four of DeAntona’s sons were in attendance at his induction.

Col. Joseph DeAntona, who retired in June, spent last year as the Deputy Military Athletic Director at the United States Military Academy; Michael, who also was a head football coach at West Scranton, leading the program to back-to-back District 2 Class AAA championships in 2006 and 2007; Marc, who is a member of the football staff at West Scranton; and his stepson C.C. Mailen, who is an assistant basketball coach at West Scranton.

“It was an emotional day to be a DeAntona,” Michael said. “His legacy will be the great influence he has had in the community, with his sons and his players, who he always looked at as his family. We all are true to his beliefs that you should think of others before you think of yourselves. It was a special day and the culmination of a lot of years of hard work.

“We all bleed blue because of my dad.”

Contact the writer:

jbfawcett@timesshamrock.com @JobyFawcett26 on Twitter

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